NGD - 2022 SG Tribute

The grain and color are hard to photograph.
It is very nice, but not the stunning bold grain I have seen on others.
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I played it with the EPI back to back for a bit. The EPI has the same 490R/T pickups, but covered.
They sound very similar. Like I mentioned earlier, if the EPI body and neck shape, weight, and balance was the same or close to the Gibson, I would not have felt the need for the Gibson.
I have since reinstalled the truss rod cover.

I will be swapping the Guitar Madness '59er pickups back in and putting the EPI up for sale.
They are pretty darn good for cheap pickups.

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jtcnj said:
Shielding work. I don't enjoy this, but it is worth the effort.
This guitar had the typical hum that quiets when you touch the strings.
The control cavity only has a strip of tape at the switch to ground the cover.
I think the PCB would ground out if the cavity was shielded.

I didnt see the piece that tore out at the neck tenon until now.

It is dead quiet now, the best results I have achieved so far.
I need to revisit some of the others.

@Inspector #20 shields the wire tunnels; I dont have the skill or patience for that.
In my LPs and Vs some switches and/or jacks are located away from the control cavity.
I will likely replace the wire with shielded wire I have on hand, and re-check conductivity / ground paths.

Doh!
After I soldered in the ground wire in both pickup cavities, as I have done before, I realized I only needed 1, and removed the neck cavity wire.

View attachment 89003View attachment 89004View attachment 89006
Click to expand...

That's a great job!
 
Forgot to mention - I was surprised the vol pots are 250k (both measure @245k, maybe they are 300k, cant see), and the tones are 500K (both measure @500k)
I measured them when I had the PCB out, pickups disconnected.
for whatever reason, I thought they would all be 500k pots.

I like them - most of my other HB guitars have 500k pots and very bright. I am usually dialing back the bridge tone pots to around 3, and usually have the vol. backed off to @ 7 - 8.5. I don't use treble bleeds because I like / use the tone effect of backing off the vol pot.
This is with the typical 70's classic rock type gain.

The Dean V79 has 250k vol pots as well, and actually can be a little dark as I play more high(er) gain with it usually.

(I mainly play on the bridge pickup)
 
So, I borrowed the old type analog shipping scale from work and weighed all my guitars.
I zeroed it and verified the weights with a few barbell plates up to 10lbs: it is within a 1/4lb.

My gut feel guestimates were pretty close, and my goldilocks zone is from @ 6.5lbs to @ 8lbs. over 8 feels a little heavy, but not a hinderance if the guitar in question is worth it for it's other attributes. 9lbs is my outer limit.

The SG weighs 6.75 lbs.

I'm going to take a couple up to the digital bathroom scale and check its veracity. It does not do well with small weights.
I weigh myself then again holding a guitar. I think the Squier CV Tele I got recently was close to 9lbs using that method. It measured 8.75 on the shipping scale. I will repeat to verify this, just so I know.
 
So, update.
While I have been playing primarily strats and..... teles lately, I have been playing the SG Tribute as well.
I filled and re-cut the D and G nut slots angled a bit towards the tuners. I do the fall away and horn shape of the slot, but need to finesse them a bit more.

Still can't get rock solid stability, but otherwise this guitar is playing and sounding GREAT.
The pots are fine as well.
 
jtcnj said:
Forgot to mention - I was surprised the vol pots are 250k (both measure @245k, maybe they are 300k, cant see), and the tones are 500K (both measure @500k)
I measured them when I had the PCB out, pickups disconnected.
for whatever reason, I thought they would all be 500k pots.

I like them - most of my other HB guitars have 500k pots and very bright. I am usually dialing back the bridge tone pots to around 3, and usually have the vol. backed off to @ 7 - 8.5. I don't use treble bleeds because I like / use the tone effect of backing off the vol pot.
This is with the typical 70's classic rock type gain.

The Dean V79 has 250k vol pots as well, and actually can be a little dark as I play more high(er) gain with it usually.

(I mainly play on the bridge pickup)
Click to expand...
I dig Gibson 57 classics with 250K's
 
Hello!

I just picked up one of these at the weekend, made in 2022 in walnut finish. Quite a great player, zero tuning issues (unlike the OP), rather a great improvement over the past SGs an LPs I have / have had.

Not a great fan of the PCB and will likely swap it out in a couple of months...
 
hjeger said:
Hello!

I just picked up one of these at the weekend, made in 2022 in walnut finish. Quite a great player, zero tuning issues (unlike the OP), rather a great improvement over the past SGs an LPs I have / have had.

Not a great fan of the PCB and will likely swap it out in a couple of months...
Click to expand...
Since I started off with trouble with the pots, I was ready to toss the PCB. But, it has been trouble free and will stay unless something changes.
 
jtcnj said:
Since I started off with trouble with the pots, I was ready to toss the PCB. But, it has been trouble free and will stay unless something changes.
Click to expand...

Yeah, mine is trouble free, I just don't like PCBs (most have an estimate lifespan of between 10 and 20 years max), so would prefer soldered pots, caps and wires to a PCB in the long run of the guitar.
 
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